Homeowners in two Kitchener neighbourhoods could win a $10,000 front yard makeover

Kitchener – On Tuesday night at Lakeside Park in front of a crowd of about 100 people, REEP Green Solutions launched the Rain Ready Neighbourhood program that will roll out over the next three years in the Kitchener neighbourhoods of Lakeside and Mount Hope. Crista Renner, the Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s local Grant Review Team, was on hand to hear more about how a three-year, $439,500 Grow grant to implement the Rain Ready Neighbourhood Action Plan will impact the neighbourhoods. The grant was formally announced last month.

“We’re excited to work directly with homeowners in Mount Hope and Lakeside,” said Patrick Gilbride, RAIN Program Manager. “As our climate changes, we’re experiencing more intense rains that increase the threat of water invading our homes and flooding our neighbourhoods and carry pollution into living streams and the Grand River. By concentrating our efforts in these neighbourhoods, not only will individual homes be rain ready but collectively the whole neighbourhood will enjoy the benefit of being protected from the cumulative effort.”

This year the program features a contest with 10 prizes in each neighbourhood including a first grand prize of up to $10,000 towards a front yard makeover and a second grand prize worth up to $3,100 towards a rain ready project. Word of the contest will be shared through a door to door campaign. Maps of neighbourhood boundaries, contest rules and an online entry form can be found at: reepgreen.ca/rainreadycontest.

“We hope these neighbourhoods inspire similar efforts by other homeowners and neighbourhoods in Kitchener and across Waterloo Region,” said Mary Jane Patterson, executive director of REEP Green Solutions. “We’re confident that the contest winners will demonstrate you can have a home that is both rain ready and beautiful.”

The Rain Ready Neighbourhoods project provides the opportunity and means for people to transform their neighbourhood to be more flood-resistant and sustainable. The neighbourhoods will receive support in landscaping and flood-proofing their yards while simultaneously capturing and soaking in rain water.

“The combination of smart solutions on the provincial level and practical steps to make our homes more environmentally sustainable, through initiatives like REEP’s Rain Ready Neighbourhood program, will forge greener and more resilient communities in Waterloo Region and across Ontario,” said a message from Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile.

The program is funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which is an agency of the Government of Ontario. Partners in the program are Partners For Action, Green Communities Canada and the City of Kitchener which is also providing some funding.